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A Paleochannel Palimpsest within Spanish
Lake Area, Southeast Louisiana, and its
Archaeological Significance
Paul V. Heinrich
Introduction
Historians first used term “palimpsest” to refer to a manuscript page
typically parchment and from either scroll or book which has been
written on, scraped off, and reused for writing on again. Frequently,
the scraping only partially erased the earlier writing, which may re-
emerge as the newer writing fades. In terms of landscapes, geologists
and geomorphologists use this term to describe landforms in which
previous processes and stages of development can be recognized
(Bloom, 1991, Jackson, 1997). In the case of the alluvial valleys of
the Mississippi, Ouachita, and Red rivers, the palimpsests are land-
forms, not related to the active accumulation of sediments within the
modern backswamp but are inherited from buried alluvial surfaces
at depth. Much like literary palimpsests, the geomorphic palimpsest
is a complex assemblage of older features buried and overprinted
by younger ones. This article discusses a prominent and potentially
archaeologically significant palimpsest that was mapped by Heinrich
and Autin (2000) within a backswamp occupied in part by Spanish
Lake just south of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Spanish Lake Area
At this time, the Spanish Lake area is a small isolated patch of cypress-
dominated floodplain located in Ascension, East Baton Rouge, and
Iberville parishes about 13 miles (22 km) southeast of Baton Rouge,
Louisiana (Figure 1). This area lies east of the Mississippi River. It
ranges in elevation from just below 5 feet (1.5 meters) above mean
sea level adjacent to the eastern valley wall of the Mississippi River al-
luvial valley to about 10 feet (3 meters) above mean sea level where it
merges with the natural levees of the Mississippi River. This segment
of Mississippi River floodplain is flooded naturally by floodwaters
of the Mississippi River during the months of March, April, and
May. These floodwaters enter this area through Bayou Manchac, a
distributary, with distinct natural levees, of the Mississippi River.
During non-flood periods, Bayou Manchac drains the floodplain in
which Spanish Lake is located (Reese and Liu, 2001).
Geotechnical and lithologic logs of geotechnical borings (Louisiana
Department of Transportation and Development Office of Highways
1981) drilled just southwest of Little Fountain Bayou in East Baton
Rouge Parish indicate that the surface of this isolated patch of flood-
plain adjacent to the eastern valley wall of the Mississippi alluvial
valley is underlain by over 95 feet (29 m) of grey clay. This grey clay
contains wood fragments, organic matter, and uncommon beds of
silty clay, silty loam, and interlaminated silt and sand. Since none
of these boring completely penetrate the Holocene backswamp and
natural levee sediments, the full thickness of sediments underlying
the surface of this patch of floodplain is unknown. An excavation
for a pond examined by the author in an area adjacent to the BREC
Burbank Soccer Complex revealed a buried cypress forest lying be-
neath the distal natural levee deposits of Mississippi River meander
belt no. 1 (Figure 2). Individual stumps of this undated buried cypress
forest were just over 5 feet (1.5 m) high.
Spanish Lake Paleochannel
Heinrich and Autin (2000) mapped a well-defined 6 km (10 mile)
long fluvial palimpsest which lies within an isolated patch of flood-
plain containing Spanish Lake and Bluff Swamp south of Baton
Rouge, Louisiana (Figure 1). It is a dark, sinuous tonal pattern and
depression which meanders southeastward across the floodplain
Summer 2009 Louisiana Geological Survey 7
from southernmost East Baton Rouge Parish, through the northeast
corner of Iberville Parish, and into northwest Ascension Parish (Figure
3). This sinuous channel-like feature wraps around Spanish Lake
(Figure 1). Within Ascension Parish, it disappears beneath Missis-
sippi River crevasse distributaries in the northeast corner of Sec. 20,
T.9S., R.2E. LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) digital elevation
models (DEMs) show that the ghost channel continues as a sinuous
depression westward, from its northwest end of the sinuous tonal in
southernmost East Baton Rouge Parish, for a few more miles before
crossing into and disappearing beneath the edge of the natural levee
of the Mississippi River.
The sinuous tonal feature is interpreted to be the palimpsest of a
paleochannel of a relict river course buried beneath backswamp and
natural levee sediments that form the modern surface of this isolated
patch of floodplain. It exhibits a broad simple symmetrical meander-
ing pattern with a wavelength of 1.8 to 4.3 miles (3 to 7 km) and
amplitude of 1.8 to 2.1 miles (3 to 3.5 km). The radius of curvature
of the meanders of this apparent relict river course ranges from 1300
to 2300 feet (400 to 700 meters). As measured from LIDAR DEMs,
these dark channel-like tonals generally lie about 0.6 to 3 feet (0.2
to 1 m) below the level of the adjacent backswamp and range 100
to 400 feet (30 to 120 m) in width. Based upon its morphology, the
tonal pattern and associated depression it is hypothesized to be a
palimpsest of a prehistoric abandoned river course. This depression
is not the actual river course. Instead it is hypothesized to be a depres-
sion within the surface of the floodplain caused by the compaction
of fine-grained sediments filling the channel of a buried course of a
long abandoned prehistoric river (Figure 4).
The size of the amplitude and radius of curvature of the meanders of
this paleochannel indicates that it would have had a large discharge
and drained a significant portion of the Mississippi alluvial valley.
Thus, it was not a local drainage, but most likely part of a prehistoric
river that flowed southward along the eastern wall of the Mississippi
alluvial valley for an unknown distance before it either emptied into
either the Gulf of Mexico or another river. It would have drained both
backswamps within the Mississippi River alluvial valley and drainages
entering it from the east. This hypothetical river is analogous to the
hypothetical Middle Holocene course of the Homochitto River shown
in Plate 28, Sheet 3 of Saucier (1994). However, the presence of this
buried abandoned river course south of Baton Rouge indicates that
the Middle Holocene embayment of the Gulf of Mexico had been
filled by alluvial sediments farther south during the Middle Holocene
than shown in Plate 28, Sheet 3 of Saucier (1994).
Age
The age of this buried prehistoric paleochannel is constrained within
this part of the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley. The lack of any
sediment indicative of adjacent fluvial channel in the cores of Reese
and Liu (2001) suggests that this paleochannel is certainly older than
900 BP C14. It also definitely predates the occupation of Mississippi
River Meander Belt no. 1, which is argued to have occupied it present
course adjacent the eastern valley at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, about
4,500 BP C14 (Saucier, 1994). This paleochannel post-dates 5,400
BP C14, the age of a natural Rangia bed that was dated by Weistein
(1994) and indicates brackish water conditions associated with the
flooding of this part of the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley by the
Gulf of Mexico as the result of rising sea levels (Saucier, 1994).
Possible Archaeological Associations
As illustrated in Weinstein (1994), the Lee Site (16EBR51) lies on the
edge of the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley wall adjacent to where
this paleochannel is closest. Although the Lee Site was occupied
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Figure 1. Geomorphic map of the Spanish Lake area.
from 2,200 to 900 BP C14 (Weinstein, 1994), which is long after the
paleochannel was reduced to an abandoned course segment by the
destruction of the majority of its course by the formation of Missis-
sippi River Meander Belt no. 1, this proximity suggests a relationship
between the abandoned paleochannel and the site location. Possibly,
this abandoned course segment was still an open navigable bayou
between 2,200 and 900 BP C14, which the prehistoric inhabitants of
the Lee Site could have used for transportation and subsistence.
It is a curious that the hypothesized river, of which the Spanish Lake
paleochannel was a part, along the eastern side of the Mississippi
River Valley and the LSU Mounds Site (16EBR6) and the Archaic
mound at the Monte Sano Site (16EBR17) are contemporaneous in
time (Homberg, 1991, 1993). Such a river would have provided a
readily navigable waterway for transportation and subsistence for the
inhabitants during the period these sites were utilized. Quite possibly,
the locations of each site, like the much younger Lee Site, represent
locations where the course of a river, which was destroyed by the
development of Mississippi River meander belt no. 1, was closest to
eastern valley wall of the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley.
Summary
An isolated patch of floodplain, in which Spanish Lake lies, contains
a well-defined, narrow sinuous tonal feature and depression. This
feature is interpreted as a fluvial palimpsest created by the subsid-
ence of the floodplain surface as the result of the compaction of
fine-grained sediment filling a buried abandoned river course. The
location and geomorphology of the of this paleochannel indicates
8 Louisiana Geological Survey Summer 2009
that it was part of a prehistoric river that flowed along the
eastern valley wall of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley around
5,400 to 4,500 BP C14 as postulated by Saucier (1994).
The existence of the Spanish Lake paleochannel and the
prehistoric river of which it might have been a part has
implications for subsistence patterns associated with and
the site locations of the Lee Site (16EBR51), LSU Mounds
Site (16EBR6), and Monte Sano Site (16EBR17).
Future Research
Within the segment of floodplain, in which Spanish Lake
lies, there is one location where the nature and age of the
hypothesized paleochannel underlie it can be readily veri-
fied and dated. This location is where natural levees of
Bayou Manchac provide relatively dry and stable ground at
which coring can be conducted. Given the lack of channel
meandering by Bayou Manchac, its natural levees should
extend out over sediments undisturbed by the growth and
entrenchment of Bayou Manchac as it developed as a major
distributary channel of the Mississippi River. On the distal
edges of the natural levees of Bayou Manchac, it should
be possible to recover cores through its natural levees and
through the buried channel fill and natural levees of the
hypothesized Spanish Lake paleochannel. The sediments
recovered in such cores would either prove or disprove the
existence of this hypothesized paleochannel. Radiocarbon
dating of organically-rich sediment recovered from the base
of its channel and just beneath and above the natural levee deposits
of this channel would determine its period of activity as discussed
by Tornqvist and Van Dijk (1993).
Acknowledgments
I thank Dr. Thomas Van Biersel and Dr. Warren Schulingkamp of
the Louisiana Geological Survey for taking the time and trouble to
review this article, and providing me helpful advice about how to
improve it and an anonymous civil engineer for providing me a paper
copy of Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
Office of Highways (1981). In addition, the archives of Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation Service aerial photography of the
Cartographic Information Center, Department of Geography and
Anthropology, Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge and the
online GIS data found at the “Atlas: The Louisiana Statewide GIS”
at http://atlas.lsu.edu/ were invaluable cartographic resources that
provided an essential part of the data collected for the research
published in this paper.
References
Bloom, A. L., 1991, Geomorphology: A systematic analysis of late
Cenozoic landforms: Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
482 p.
Heinrich, P. V., and W. J. Autin (compilers), 2000, Baton Rouge 30 x
60 Minute Geologic Quadrangle: Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton
Rouge, Scale 1:100,000.
Jackson, J. A., 1997, Glossary of Geology, 4th ed: American Geological
Institute, Alexandria, Virginia. 769 p.
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Office of
Highways, 1981, Plans of Proposed State Highway: State Project 258-
31-07 Highland Road Relocation (Gardere Lane – Siegen Lane) East
Baton Rouge Parish LA 24: unpublished construction plans, Lousiana
Department of Transportation and Development, Baton Rouge, La.
Homburg, J. A., 1991, An archaeological investigation at the LSU Campus
Mounds: unpublished Masters thesis, Department of Geography and
Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
 www.lgs.lsu.edu • NewsInsights

Homburg, J. A., 1993, Comments on the Age of the LSU

Campus Mounds: A Reply to Jones: Louisiana Archaeology.
v. 20, p. 183-196.
Reese, C.A., and K. B. Liu, 2001, Late-Holocene vegetation
changes at Bluff Swamp, Louisiana. Southeastern
Geographer. v. 42, no. 1, p. 20-35.
Saucier, R. T., 1994, Geomorphology and Quaternary Geologic
History of the Lower Mississippi Valley, vols. 1 and 2:
U.S. Army Waterways Experimental Station, Vicksburg,
Mississippi, 346 p.
Tornqvist, T. E., and G. J. Van Dijk, 1993, Optimizing sampling
strategy for radiocarbon dating of Holocene fluvial systems
in a vertically aggrading setting: Boreas. v. 22, no. 2, p.
129-145.
Weinstein, R. A. 1994. Archaeological Investigations at the Lee
Site, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana Archaeology.
v. 21, p. 1-25.

Figure 2. Photograph of the author standing by an upright buried cypress stump

uncovered by excavation adjacent to BREC Burbank Soccer Complex and Burbank
Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Figure 3. Modified 1941 black and white Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation
Service aerial photograph showing dark sinuous tonal feature interpreted to be a
buried paleochannel. SLP = Spanish Lake paleochannel. Aerial photograph courtesy
of Cartographic Information Center, Department of Geography and Anthropology,
Figure 4. Diagram illustrating the generalized Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
development of a sinuous depression and associated
dark tonal pattern above buried paleochannel. “SLP”
is the sinuous dark tonal marking a buried channel of
Spanish Lake paleochannel.

Summer 2009 Louisiana Geological Survey 9

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Louisi Louisiana Geological Survey

NewsInsights
Summer 2009 • Volume 19, Number 1
(Note: A color version of this issue can be viewed on the LGS website at www.lgs.lsu.edu).

LGS Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Historical Sequence of Organizational Names Historical Sequence of Organizational Directors
Topographical and Geological Survey of Louisiana, 1869-1872 Peter V. Hopkins, 1869-1872

Geological and Agricultural Survey of Louisiana, 1892-1902 Otto Lerch, 1892-1893

Geological Survey of Louisiana, 1903-1909 William W. Clendenin, 1894-1897
Gilbert D. Harris, 1899-1909
Louisiana Soil and Geological Survey, 1914-1919
Frederick E. Emerson, 1914-1919
Bureau of Scientific Research,
Department of Conservation, 1931-1934 Cyril K. Moresi, 1931-1940
John Huner, Jr., 1940-1946
Louisiana Geological Survey, 1934-present
(LGS legislatively established in 1934) Paul Montgomery, 1946*
James M. Cunningham, 1946-1947*
Gerard O. Coignet, 1947*
Leo G. Hough, 1947-1977
Harry L. Roland, Jr., 1977-1978*
Charles G. Groat, 1978-1990
John E. Johnston III, 1990-1992*
William E. Marsalis, 1992-1997
Chacko J. John, 1997-present
* Acting Director and State Geologist

Organizational History
The Louisiana Geological Survey (LGS) had its beginnings in 1869,
four years after the Civil War ended, when the Louisiana Legisla-
ture named Francis V. Hopkins, a Louisiana State University (LSU)
professor, to be the first State Geologist. His primary assistant was
Colonel Charles H. Lockett, head of LSU’s Corps of Cadets. They
published some of Louisiana’s first geologic reports as well as the first
topographical and geological maps of the state. In 1873, LSU being
without funds, their pioneering work came to an end.
In 1894, LSU Professor William Clendenin was hired to continue
Lerch’s work. He did so for three years, publishing a number of
geological, botanical and agricultural works.
In 1899, LSU hired Gilbert D. Harris of Cornell Univer-
sity to study the geology of the state. Until 1909 he and
his assistants published numerous maps and reports.
He initiated a tradition of cooperative work with the U.S. Geologic
Survey that continues to the present day. Once again, a lack of funds
caused the work of Harris and his staff to be discontinued.

Summer 2009 Louisiana Geological Survey 1